Mirabilia Coralii. Capolavori barocchi in corallo tra maestranze ebraiche e trapanesi

La pregevole lavorazione del corallo trapanese ricostruita attraverso la puntuale analisi delle fonti documentarie, manoscritte e bibliografiche. L’organizzazione della maestranza e il ruolo che la committenza,sia laica che ecclesiastica, ha esercitato nella realizzazione di capolavori oggi presenti in rinomate collezioni pubbliche e private e nei principali musei nazionali ed internazionali. Una rassegna di importanti manufatti, un tempo mirabili opere da Wunderkammer, criticamente commentata, che bene evidenzia l’aulica produzione siciliana ricercata da Sovrani, Viceré ed alti prelati. Un’originale ed inedita trattazione che per la prima volta rende noti nomi e biografie di gran parte degli artisti specializzati, tra XVI e XIX secolo, nella trasformazione del prezioso materiale marin

Structural investigation of nucleophosmin interaction with the tumor suppressor Fbw7γ

Nucleophosmin (NPM1) is a multifunctional nucleolar protein implicated in ribogenesis, centrosome duplication, cell cycle control, regulation of DNA repair and apoptotic response to stress stimuli. The majority of these functions are played through the interactions with a variety of protein partners. NPM1 is frequently overexpressed in solid tumors of different histological origin. Furthermore NPM1 is the most frequently mutated protein in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. Mutations map to the C-terminal domain and lead to the aberrant and stable localization of the protein in the cytoplasm of leukemic blasts. Among NPM1 protein partners, a pivotal role is played by the tumor suppressor Fbw7γ, an E3-ubiquitin ligase that degrades oncoproteins like c-MYC, cyclin E, Notch and c-jun. In AML with NPM1 mutations, Fbw7γ is degraded following its abnormal cytosolic delocalization by mutated NPM1. This mechanism also applies to other tumor suppressors and it has been suggested that it may play a key role in leukemogenesis. Here we analyse the interaction between NPM1 and Fbw7γ, by identifying the protein surfaces implicated in recognition and key aminoacids involved. Based on the results of computational methods, we propose a structural model for the interaction, which is substantiated by experimental findings on several site-directed mutants. We also extend the analysis to two other NPM1 partners (HIV Tat and CENP-W) and conclude that NPM1 uses the same molecular surface as a platform for recognizing different protein partners. We suggest that this region of NPM1 may be targeted for cancer treatment

From "Gomorrah Domain" to "Don Peppe Diana Lands". A Southern Italian Experience of Work-Based Liberation, Community Networking, and Well Being

The article describes working experiences in relation to empowering activities, which have been carried out in a local community in the province of Caserta (in Southern Italy), a place characterized by the widespread presence of organized criminal groups. In this study, workplace is intended as a community network aimed at the promotion of coscientization, liberation, and well-being. Specifically, this paper features initiatives and projects aimed at establishing new community values through a re-construction of a work-based social system standing against criminal clans, which tend to dominate not only economical transactions but also civil life

Strength is in numbers: Can concordant artificial listeners improve prediction of emotion from speech?

Humans can communicate their emotions by modulating facial expressions or the tone of their voice. Albeit numerous applications exist that enable machines to read facial emotions and recognize the content of verbal messages, methods for speech emotion recognition are still in their infancy. Yet, fast and reliable applications for emotion recognition are the obvious advancement of present 'intelligent personal assistants', and may have countless applications in diagnostics, rehabilitation and research. Taking inspiration from the dynamics of human group decision-making, we devised a novel speech emotion recognition system that applies, for the first time, a semi-supervised prediction model based on consensus. Three tests were carried out to compare this algorithm with traditional approaches. Labeling performances relative to a public database of spontaneous speeches are reported. The novel system appears to be fast, robust and less computationally demanding than traditional methods, allowing for easier implementation in portable voice-analyzers (as used in rehabilitation, research, industry, etc.) and for applications in the research domain (such as real-time pairing of stimuli to participants' emotional state, selective/differential data collection based on emotional content, etc.)

A Rapid Detection of Meat Spoilage using an Electronic Nose and Fuzzy-Wavelet systems

Freshness and safety of muscle foods are generally considered as the most important parameters for the food industry. To address the rapid detection of meat spoilage microorganisms during aerobic or modified atmosphere storage, an electronic nose with the aid of fuzzy wavelet network has been considered in this research. The proposed model incorporates a clustering pre-processing stage for the definition of fuzzy rules. The dual purpose of the proposed modelling approach is not only to classify beef samples in the respective quality class (i.e. fresh, semi-fresh and spoiled), but also to predict their associated microbiological population directly from volatile compounds fingerprints. Comparison results against neural networks and neurofuzzy systems indicated that the proposed modelling scheme could be considered as a valuable detection methodology in food microbiolog

Artificial receptors for artificial olfaction

Any attempt to mimic the behavior of natural olfaction is mainly based on the properties of the artificial sensor units. Since the beginning of artificial olfaction, the main requirement for sensors has been the partial crossselectivity. This trivial feature makes possible the application of the combinatorial selectivity principle to the arrays of gas sensors. The principle of cross-selectivity can actually be fulfilled by almost any kind of sensor technology. This resulted in a vast popularity of "electronic noses" and their application. However, it is important to consider the kind of the cross-selectivity offered by sensors technology. Current sensors combines together the capability of chemistry to synthesize molecules endowed with molecular recognition properties and a number of solid-state devices that actually measure the changes in some physical properties consequent to the chemical interaction event. From this point of view, it is important to consider that in practice a number of unwanted interaction can take place even if the receptor is designed to emphasize the selectivity towards a particular kind of molecule. These are mainly driven by Van der Waals forces. Most of the available transducers cannot discriminate interactions by their energy and since Van der Waals interactions are rather ubiquitous the sensors tend to be highly correlated. A scrutiny of literature on electronic noses shows that even in case of large arrays, PCA often is limited to two variables. In this presentation, these principles will be discussed considering the study case of metalloporphyrins. These are a rather versatile class of molecules whose gas sensing properties are actively exploited in Nature, for instance for the transport of molecules such as O2 and N2 in blood. The possibility to reduce the influence of common interactions will be illustrated. It has also to be considered that the reduction of correlation is necessary to increase the array size in artificial olfaction systems. Published: 16 April 201

Stable odor recognition by a neuro-adaptive electronic nose

Sensitivity, selectivity and stability are decisive properties of sensors. In chemical gas sensors odor recognition can be severely compromised by poor signal stability, particularly in real life applications where the sensors are exposed to unpredictable sequences of odors under changing external conditions. Although olfactory receptor neurons in the nose face similar stimulus sequences under likewise changing conditions, odor recognition is very stable and odorants can be reliably identified independently from past odor perception. We postulate that appropriate pre-processing of the output signals of chemical sensors substantially contributes to the stability of odor recognition, in spite of marked sensor instabilities. To investigate this hypothesis, we use an adaptive, unsupervised neural network inspired by the glomerular input circuitry of the olfactory bulb. Essentially the model reduces the effect of the sensors' instabilities by utilizing them via an adaptive multicompartment feed-forward inhibition. We collected and analyzed responses of a 4 × 4 gas sensor array to a number of volatile compounds applied over a period of 18 months, whereby every sensor was sampled episodically. The network conferred excellent stability to the compounds' identification and was clearly superior over standard classifiers, even when one of the sensors exhibited random fluctuations or stopped working at all

Characterization of translationally controlled tumour protein from the sea anemone Anemonia viridis and transcriptome wide identification of cnidarian homologues

Gene family encoding translationally controlled tumour protein (TCTP) is defined as highly conserved among organisms; however, there is limited knowledge of non-bilateria. In this study, the first TCTP homologue from anthozoan was characterised in the Mediterranean Sea anemone, Anemonia viridis. The release of the genome sequence of Acropora digitifera, Exaiptasia pallida, Nematostella vectensis and Hydra vulgaris enabled a comprehensive study of the molecular evolution of TCTP family among cnidarians. A comparison among TCTP members from Cnidaria and Bilateria showed conserved intron exon organization, evolutionary conserved TCTP signatures and 3D protein structure. The pattern of mRNA expression profile was also defined in A. viridis. These analyses revealed a constitutive mRNA expression especially in tissues with active proliferation. Additionally, the transcriptional profile of A. viridis TCTP (AvTCTP) after challenges with different abiotic/biotic stresses showed induction by extreme temperatures, heavy metals exposure and immune stimulation. These results suggest the involvement of AvTCTP in the sea anemone defensome taking part in environmental stress and immune responses